Long before actor John Barrowman blessed American audiences as the new Ra’s al Ghul on Arrow (and now the “Arrowverse” as a whole), the UK actor was a part of geek culture across the pond as the memorable Captain Jack Harkness on Doctor Who as its subsequent spinoff, Torchwood. First introduced on the BBC series as a time agent turned con man from the 51st Century, he quickly became a fan favorite as he briefly was one of The Doctor’s companions. After his character’s supposed death, he went on to become immortal after being brought back to life as a result of the time vortex. As a result of never being able to die, Captain Jack has been killed 1,409 times. The character then was stranded in the past and joined the Torchwood group monitoring alien threats and reshaped it to honor The Doctor (rather than hunt him). He has since had his own spin-off show Torchwood, a show that had a darker edge than the family-friendly Doctor Who, which went on for four seasons.

With the character being “omnisexual,” Harkness was open for a relationship with any sex, gender, or species. In the 51st century with the amount of contacts with multiple alien species, human sexuality had become somewhat “flexible.” Jack Harkness also was played as a swashbuckling Han Solo type of character instead of the traditional “stereotypical gay character” and helped audiences mainstream acceptance of gay and bisexuality in the UK as well as the US for sci-fi. Barrowman himself was gay went on be labeled one of the most influential gay people in Britain from 2007-2009. While they did not shy away from Captain Jack’s sexuality, it was never “preachy” in its approach.

Even though Torchwood has been off the air since 2011 and Harkness haven’t appeared on Doctor Who since his cameo in 2010’s “The End of Time” to say goodbye to the Tenth Doctor, he is still a fan favorite and many are always asking for him to return to the Doctor Who franchise. It has been reported that Barrowman has a “special deal” that allows him to return to the BBC America series should the need arise and he wants to. When asked about a possible return for Jack Harkness, Barrowman says:

“The answer is always absolutely. It’s a show and genre that changed my life. I love it dearly and if I’m asked I would do it at the drop of a hat. And also my producers here in the US for the show I’m on at the moment, Arrow, they’ve said, ‘If that did happen, we’d let you do it’. I would love to do it, and I do know that there’s a huge fanbase.”

Because Barrowman is knee-deep in the Arrowverse shows on the CW it may prove difficult for him to appear on any upcoming Doctor Who episodes. It’s been a few years since we have seen his character but ask any Whovian, his popularity remains high. While some fans still want a continuation of Torchwood, It would be great if he did a cameo in an upcoming Doctor Who episode, but with a character like Jack Harkness, he probably needs his own Christmas special to catch up with The Doctor, it would be well worth the wait.